Instagram story viewer> @grit_artists> Posts

GRIT— artist collective

@grit_artists

432

followers

118

following

We are a collective of American-based artists raised in economically disadvantaged rural communities.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

GRIT member Paige Phillips along with the support of the GRIT collective just published an opinion piece on the problematic work of Fia Backström on view now at the Queens Museum until May 17th, 2026.
.
Links are in our bio to QM exhibition and to the Hyperallergic article. Thank you to @hyperallergic for giving us a platform to share our story.
.

#gritartistcollective #grit #hyperallergic #queensmuseum by @grit_artists

242

44

6 months ago

We are ready to tell our story. 🚨
We will be creating more content about our experience with @queensmuseum and artist Fia Backström’s exhibition, The Great Society. Stay tuned and please share our story.
.
The art world is changing 🤑
.
#gritcollective #gritartistcollective #queensmuseum #fiabackström #thegreatsociety by @grit_artists

67

15

8 months ago

We are members of GRIT, a collective of American artists raised in economically disadvantaged rural communities, four of whom are from West Virginia.
.
We write in response to the exhibition The Great Society at the Queens Museum.
.
Artist Fia Backström approaches West Virginia as a site of research rather than a living community. Her methodology reproduces the same extractive gaze that has historically defined relationships between outsiders and Appalachia — mining stories, aesthetics, and trauma for cultural capital.
.
This exhibition is not our story told by us.
.
It is a story about us, told by an outside artist, and framed by an outside institution.
.
Representation carries power. When museums present work through documentary forms, audiences understand it as truth. But without collaboration, accountability, or regional authorship, this authority reinforces stereotypes rather than dismantling them.
.
The exhibition focuses almost exclusively on trauma and despair, while failing to acknowledge the strength, complexity, pride, and humanity of our communities.
.
Appalachia is not an abstract concept.
.
It is our home.
.
Cultural institutions have a responsibility to engage communities with care, humility, and
equity.
.
These places are not sites for extraction. They are living, evolving cultures.
.
We call for accountability.
We call for dialogue.
We call for structural change.

— GRIT Collective
.
@queensmuseum
#grit #gritcollective #fiabackström #queensmuseum #appalachiastrong by @grit_artists

189

12

8 months ago

257

6

6 months ago

GRIT Collective was at this years ASA (Appalachian Studies Association) conference held @marshallu in Huntington, WV. GRIT member and DR. Ali Printz led a roundtable discussion titled “Artistic Renderings of Appalachia: Who Gets to Tell Our Story” with Julie Rae Powers (Artist/ Educator/ GRIT member), Rebecca Proffitt (Director, Reece Museum), and Shaun Slifer (Creative Director, WV Mine Wars Museum)
.
The discussion touched on several points from whether a photograph is stereotypical/ derogatory to ethical considerations to consider when making/ exhibiting work and who has access to institutional resources/ how are power dynamics revealed through curatorial practices.
.
This important conversation is just the beginning of many more. If you want to share your experience as an Appalachian artist or are you an ally we would love to hear from you.
.
📸 credit: @magnolia.artco
@aliprintz
@julieraepowers
@mulchthief
@wvminewars
@etsureecemuseum
@appalachstudies taken in Marshall University by @grit_artists

61

4

7 months ago

Grit collective member: Paige Phillips
b. Matewan, West Virginia
IG: movepaige
Website: movepaige.com
.
Originally from the coalfields of Matewan, West Virginia, Paige Phillips draws from her Appalachian roots to examine historical narratives and challenge dominant stories. With a foundation in performance, her practice treats the body as an archive: an instrument for research, collaboration, and storytelling. Her work has been presented widely across the U.S.
and internationally in Singapore, Thailand, Nepal, and Hungary. She holds an MFA in Dance with a specialization in Folklore Studies from The Ohio State University and currently oversees new public art commissions through the City of Philadelphia’s Percent for Art program. Her recent project, The Tale of the Slaughtered Hog, presented by Philadelphia Dance Projects and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, weaves together West Virginia history, personal narratives about her father’s life as a coal miner, and pointed political commentary.
.
#Appalachian #Appalachianartist #queerappalachia #lookingatappalachia
#contemporaryappalachia #WestVirginia #Pennsylvania #Ohio #Alabama #solidarity
#workingclassartist #contemporaryartist #Grit #gritartistcollective taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @grit_artists

22

2

10 months ago

Grit collective member: ALi Printz
b. Martinsburg, West Virginia
Website: aliprintz.com
IG: @aliprintz
.

A native of West Virginia, Ali Printz is an interdisciplinary artist, art historian, and curator whose work focuses on Appalachian culture, extraction, labor histories, and the intersection of fine art, folk, and craft. Her education included a BFA in Painting and a BA in Art History from West Virginia University, an MA in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York, and most recently a PhD in Appalachian Art History from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. Her practice includes painting, installation, textile work, archival and photographic research, and technological components that reference forgotten historical and cultural events. Her most recent projects include a 2026 Creative Capital State of the Art grant for a new body of work, her 2025 solo show, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow at Bloomfield Richwood and the curation of the PAFA show, Layers of Liberty: Philadelphia and the Appalachian Environment in 2024
.
#Appalachian #Appalachianartist #queerappalachia #lookingatappalachia
#contemporaryappalachia #WestVirginia #Pennsylvania #Ohio #Alabama #solidarity
#workingclassartist #contemporaryartist #Grit #gritartistcollective taken in Washington, DC by @grit_artists

22

1

10 months ago

Grit collective member: Julie Rae Powers
b. Mingo County, West Virginia
Website:julieraepowers.com
IG: @Julieraepowers
.
Julie Rae Powers is from West Virginia and Virginia. They come from a working class family of homemakers, teachers, coal miners, and railroad laborers. Their photographic and written work has focused on family history, coal, Appalachia, and queerness. Additionally, they are the author and editor of a forthcoming collection of Queer Appalachian photographers “Reclamation: Queering Appalachia’s Visual History” UPK ‘27 and a collection of personal essays “Latent Image” UPK ‘27. They are currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography at Alfred University.
.
📸 Kate Sweeney (@kate_sweeney on instagram)
.
#Appalachian #Appalachianartist #queerappalachia #lookingatappalachia #contemporaryappalachia #WestVirginia #Pennsylvania #Ohio #Alabama #solidarity #workingclassartist #contemporaryartist #Grit #gritartistcollective taken in Alfred, New York by @grit_artists

22

0

10 months ago

32

0

10 months ago

Grit Collective member: Amy Ritter
b. Allentown, PA
Website: amybritter.com
IG: @aritterface
.
Amy Ritter grew up in Eastern, PA in the rural town of Orefield. For the past 10 years she’s documented mobile home parks (over 100 sites in over 18 states) and interviewed residents. She’s created and exhibited work influenced by these archives built on her personal history growing up in a double-wide trailer. She’s continuing to visit mobile home parks throughout the
United States systematically archiving overarching questions around the American Dream, specifically the myth of social mobility and the stigma around affordable housing.

Ritter has shown her work nationally and internationally for over a decade. She’s been awarded numerous residencies and fellowships; selected honors include Fine Arts Work Center, MA (2016), Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME (2016), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace Resident, NY (2017), a fellowship at Yaddo, NY (2020), an Engaging Artist Fellowship at More Art, a Puffin Grant (2022), NYFA grant (2023), Anderson Ranch Artist in Residence (2024), Santa Fe Art Institute Fellowship (2025), among others.
.
📸 Ebti Shedid @ebtiebtiebti
.
#Appalachian #Appalachianartist #queerappalachia #lookingatappalachia #contemporaryappalachia #WestVirginia #Pennsylvania #Ohio #Alabama #solidarity #workingclassartist #contemporaryartist #Grit #gritartistcollectiv taken in Brooklyn, New York by @grit_artists

26

4

10 months ago